Date: February 14, 2019
Source: University of Washington
Parenthood
can be a struggle, particularly for families with multiple children in need of
care, nurturing, protection and attention. But a weary mom or dad may find
solace in the reassurance that all parents with several offspring face a
similar challenge -- even the non-human variety.
Researchers
at the University of Washington wanted to know how Magellanic penguin parents
in South America balance the dietary demands of multiple chicks. As they report
in a paper published Jan. 23 in the journal Animal Behaviour, when a
Magellanic penguin parent returns to its nest with fish, the parent tries to
feed each of its two chicks equal portions of food, regardless of the
youngsters' differences in age or size.
This
finding surprised the team, since parents across the animal kingdom, including
other penguin species, often allocate resources unequally to their chicks based
on factors like offspring age, body condition, health and behavior, said senior
author P. Dee Boersma. Boersma, a UW professor of biology and director of the
Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, has for more than three decades studied
penguins at Punta Tombo, a coastal region in Argentina that hosts one of this
species' largest breeding colonies.
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